Sometimes the allotted yearly vacation time just isn’t enough. Employees often want time off for personal reasons ranging from taking that extra family vacation to caring for a loved one. But often workers are afraid to ask for it. This is not without reason, after all. Contracts usually state explicitly the time allotted for paid vacation and bosses are loathe to extend it for fear of budget constraints as well as the problem that other workers may sense favoritism to the employee receiving the extra vacation. However, bosses (as they say) are people too and if you know how to approach them with tact, they can be very amenable to providing that extra time off, either with or without pay.
Timing, of course, is everything. Anyone knows that asking for time off during a busy spell is not only unlikely to get you the time off, it is going to put you into disfavor with your supervisor. So plan ahead. Remember, whenever you ask your boss for something (be it a raise, time off, or any other benefit) most likely that boss has to ask for it from his superior. A good boss’s job is to advocate for his/her employees—to ensure they have everything they need in order to do a good job. But if you are going to ask your boss to stick his/her neck out for you, you should be able to show that boss that you are invaluable and worth the trouble. But how?
Several tried and true methods exist for making yourself an invaluable employee for whom bosses will take risks, and they all involve you making your boss look good. That’s right. Don’t think about making yourself look good and productive, think about what you can do to make your boss look good.After all, if he is going to take a risk for you, he must be convinced that although asking for extra time off may look bad right now, you have a way of generally making him/her look good to others, so it balances out. Here are a few techniques that have a strong success rate:
Compose an ETA calendar: ETA means “expected time of arrival” and if you compose a calendar where each and every project you are working on is broken down into milestones, with each milestone’s ETA listed on the relevant dates, anyone will be able to see that you have considered every angle and factored the extra time off into your schedule.
Delegate: Find others in the office who are willing to pick up some slack for you while you are gone. Of course, you will have to do the same for them when the time comes, but the ability to spread work out over numerous volunteers shows your ability to manage, first of all, and secondly it shows the affinity that other office workers have for you. If all of these people are willing to help you out, shouldn’t your boss consider you an important asset? Shouldn’t he or she also be willing to play a part by getting you the needed time off?
Surprise them: Generally, it is considered better to plan ahead and give plenty of notice when extra time off is needed, but some situations call for a different approach. If your company is renowned for being stingy with vacation days and you feel it is highly likely that your request will be denied out of hand, then don’t give them a chance to deny it. Call in sick, call in a personal day, or call in stating that you have a sick relative that suddenly needs your urgent care, and take the time as emergency time. Very few companies will actually deny a week or even two that is taken as an emergency leave, while many will refuse to give that leave when it is asked for through the proper channels. It’s nothing more than the perversity of human thought. So take a good long look at your company and the atmosphere there and decide upon the best strategy to use for those extra days off you so desperately need.
